VNA
Government members and heads of the State agencies continued answering questions raised by deputies during a plenary meeting under the chairmanship of National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Van An on December 8, the sixteenth working day of the NA's session. Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Cong Tan answered questions by eight deputies from seven cities and provinces on issues concerning the settlement of complaints and denunciations, land planning, the connection between agricultural production with environmental protection, farm produce processing and consumption, economic structure shifting, the afforestation of five million more hectares of land and the guarantee of livelihood for the people involved in planting forest. The NA heard Minister, head of the Government Committee of Organisation and Personnel Do Quang Trung's answering deputies' questions on the result of the settlement of NA deputies' questions at previous sessions, including the exams for recruitment of civil servants, exams for promotion from assistant lecturers to main lecturers, from main lecturers to senior lecturers and from secondary school teachers to senior secondary school teachers. He also gave explanation to issues relating to the reform of salary policy, priority policy to officials of communes, wards and towns and the achievements of the administrative reform during the past years and measures to continue the process in the coming time. Later, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem answered deputies' questions on the education development including the improvement of the education and training quality and quality of teachers from pre-school to tertiary level, weaknesses needed to be addressed, priority policy for teachers at all levels and the corrections of wrong-doing in current examinations and actual situation and measures to fight against social evils, particularly drugs and prostitution. Deputy Prime Minister Khiem also answered directly questions by deputies at the hall. Minister of Industry Dang Vu Chu gave explanations to questions by deputies on the development of rural electricity and return of construction charge of medium voltage network and the imports of the parts for assembling of motorbike. Mr Khiem also answered questions raised by eleven deputies from 10 provinces and cities on relevant issues. The NA continued its work on December 10. **** PM praises donors' commitment Prime Minister Phan Van Khai expressed appreciation for foreign donors' commitment of 2.4 billion aid to Vietnam, pledged at a two-day conference concluded in Hanoi on December 8. The government leader was speaking to head delegates of the conference of the Consultative Group soon after the event's conclusion. He said the Consultative Group made the commitment despite the effects of a world economic slowdown. He attributed Vietnam's economic achievements this year in part to the assistance of the international community which he hoped would be increased in both financial and experience terms. "The government and people of Vietnam will do their best to put international aid to fullest possible use to make it a practical contribution to national construction and development," Prime Minister Khai emphasised. In turn, donors' representatives expressed their appreciation for the Vietnamese government's "excellent" co-operation with the donors' community, describing it as a model for other developing countries. They pledged continued aid to development projects in Vietnam. However, they suggested the Vietnamese government accelerate State-owned business reform, improve the investment environment, increase economic competitiveness, push up administrative reform, and continue the poverty alleviation programme. They said these efforts would help establish rapid and sustainable growth in Vietnam. (VNA) **** PM supports Red River harnessing project Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on December 9 expressed his support for a project to harness the Red River right after his inspection tour of Hanoi's urban areas along the Red River and other areas planned by the city for socio-economic development. The project aims to stabilise the Red River flow, ensure safety for the dyke system, flood drainage and riverways, improve local people's living conditions and environmental hygiene, and build cultural, tourist and entertainment areas along both banks of the river. Speaking to Hanoi's authorities, Prime Minister Khai stressed that the project should be carried out in correlation with the Da River and by concreting the dyke system, thus ensuring safety for Hanoi in flood season. He said the government will examine and give opinions to each item of the draft project. The prime minister assigned relevant ministries to co-ordinate with Hanoi to work out a draft project and effectively implement it. The Red River has a 30 kilometre section running through Hanoi with an alluvial plain of about 6,200 hectares. (VNA) **** Day of Fine Arts circle chosen The Vietnam Fine Arts Association held a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary since Uncle Ho wrote a letter to painters on the occasion of the Painting Exhibition (December 10, 1951) in Hanoi on December 9. Present at the ceremony were representatives from the Party�s Commission for Ideology and Culture, the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Vietnam Union of Literature and Fine Arts and many painters, sculptors and fine arts critics. The participants recalled the great attention given by Uncle Ho to the painters and were fully aware of the responsibility of the �painters-soldiers� as Uncle Ho once put it. On the occasion, the party�s Commission for Ideology and Culture agreed to recognise December 10 as the traditional day of the Vietnam�s fine arts circle. **** Vietnam, Mexico sign agriculture, forestry agreement Vietnam and Mexico have signed a scientific and technological co-operation agreement in the fields of agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry. Signatories to the accor were Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong and Mexican Minister of Agriculture Animal Husbandry Rural Development and Fisheries, Javier Usabiaga. The signing took place in Mexico city on December 7 during an official visit to Mexico by Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung of Vietnam. The same day, Deputy Prime Minister Dung had separate meetings with President of the Senate Diego Hernandez, President of the Chamber of Deputies Beatriz Paradez, and Governor of the Central Bank Guillermo Ortiz. During the meetings, leaders of the two countries informed each other of the recent situation in their respective countries. They were of the same view that Vietnam and Mexico should further boost bilateral friendship and co-operation, particularly in the economic and commercial domains. The Mexican leaders expressed their admiration for the Vietnamese people's past struggle for national liberation and spoke highly of Vietnam's renovation achievements and its efforts to accelerate regional and international integration. (VNA) **** Vietnam wishes to promote ties with UK: deputy PM Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Manh Cam has affirmed that Vietnam attaches importance to bilateral relations with the UK and wishes to further promote multi-faceted co-operation, particularly in trade, economics and investment. Deputy Prime Minister Cam made the statement during talks with his UK counterpart, John Prescott, who began an official visit to Vietnam on December 8. Deputy Prime Minister Cam welcomed Mr Prescott's first visit to Vietnam, saying that this visit would be an important milestone in the development of the co-operative relations between Vietnam and the UK. Mr Cam informed his guest of the achievements Vietnamese people have recorded in socio-economic development, external policy, and the renovation process and discussed the orientation for Vietnam's future socio-economic development with the aim of fulfilling industrialisation and modernisation targets. The deputy prime minister expressed his sincere thanks to the government and people of the UK for their valuable support and assistance to Vietnam. He spoke highly of UK projects involved in hunger eradication, poverty reduction, rural development, and education and training. Mr Prescott briefed his Vietnamese counterpart of his country's socio-economic development and its policy on Vietnam. Mr Prescott spoke highly of Vietnam's achievements in the renovation process and its external policy of openness, diversification and multilateralisation. He emphasised that the UK would continue to support Vietnam's renovation process by enhancing its provision of development assistance and co-operating with the country in economics, education and culture. The British guest stated that his government would provide continued support to the development of comprehensive co-operation between Vietnam and the European Union and to Vietnam's bid to join the World Trade Organisation. Both the host and guest expressed delight at the successful development of the relationship between the two countries. They agreed upon orientations and measures to raise their relations to a new height and accelerate bilateral co-operation in trade, economics, and investment. They also exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual concern. The talks took place in an atmostphere of friendship and mutual understanding. On the evening of December 8, Deputy Prime Minister Cam hosted a banquet in honour of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. (VNA) **** Labour minister visits Republic of Korea Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Hang concluded a five-day visit to the Republic of Korea on December 8. Ms Hang met with RoK's prime minister, Lee Han-dong, who pledged continued help to Vietnam in education and vocational training. She was also assured that the RoK's authorities have been working on new policies concerning the reception and management of guest workers, including those from Vietnam. How to improve labour relations in RoK-invested companies in Vietnam was one of the goals of Ms Hang's visit. The question was raised during talks with the host country's Minister of Labour Affairs Yu Yong-Tae. During her stay, Ms Hang also had working sessions with the president of the Korean Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (KFSB), the General Department of Small and Medium- Sized Businesses, the Human Resource Development Centre (HRD) and the Korean International Co-orperation Agency (KOICA). She also spoke about affairs with the leadership and agencies of those provinces which host Vietnamese workers. (VNA) _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
